Trio of Cameron stars lead U.S. Open Qualifier in Duncan

Apr. 25—Equipped with a little bit of familiarity with the course, three Cameron University golfers starred in the first round local qualifier of the U.S. Open held by the Oklahoma Golf Association and USGA at The Territory in Duncan.

It was a windy and cloudy day as over 70 golfers made their way through one round of golf as part of the qualifying process for the U.S. Open that will be held later this summer in Los Angeles, California.

At the beginning of the day, it was listed that four qualified for the next round and two alternate positions were in play. The golfers started at around 8 a.m. on April 24 and continued until the final playoff hole at around 7 p.m. that same evening.

With results coming in throughout the day, it was clear that even par or a little below was going to be the qualifying mark for the spots to make it to the sectionals round for the 123rd U.S. Open Championship.

The Cameron University Men's Golf team uses The Territory as their home course and for two of their sophomores and one of the juniors, they used that to their advantage to secure the top three spots.

Preston Holmes, the lone junior from League City, Texas had a tremendous round, finishing with a -2 and a score of 70 to win the tournament and qualify in the first position.

Holmes had three birdies, two bogeys and an eagle on the Par 5 15 hole to secure the first qualifying spot while two of his teammates following close behind him.

The two sophomores, Hamish Murray and Hunter Drotts finished with identical -1 scores, shooting 71 to take the second and third spots while the fourth spot had to be decided by a one hole playoff.

Murray was the leader of the clubhouse until Holmes finished his day as he had five birdies, two bogeys and one double bogey with his final birdie coming on 18 to finish just below par for the round.

Drotts had a good start to the day, getting a birdie on hole number one and four while staying near even on the back 18 to secure the third spot on the day.

The fourth spot had to be determined by a playoff. Duncan native Aaron Simpson and Tulsa native Austin Hannah went after all the scores were in to determine the fourth and final spot and the first alternate position.

Simpson went first on hole number one and finished first. Hannah went second and won the playoff by finishing with Par to secure the final spot of the automatic qualifiers.

The first alternate will be Simpson. The Duncan native now hopes for a call to fill a spot in the next round.

The second alternate was also decided by a playoff round and Tulsa native Scott Newell won the spot.

As a collegiate golfer, Holmes felt excited to play in the qualifier on the course he is familiar with and feels great getting the victory and taking the next step in the qualifying process.

"I just wanted to go into it and just kind of play like I casually do when we come out here and practice. I didn't want to come in here and do anything special or out of the ordinary," Holmes said. "Just wanted to play my own game and then put up a good number. It is looking that way so far and hopefully it sticks around for a little bit longer."

With his two teammates also part of the qualifying process, Holmes said the team is solid and they look forward to their next step in the qualifying while also focusing on the end of the college season.

"We were just talking about it a couple of minutes ago and our nationals ... we have Regionals in about a week and half, then we have nationals right after that," Holmes said. "The next sectionals qualifier that we all signed up for is in Dallas, and that overlaps with nationals. So we are going to have to figure something out if we make nationals and that is the goal, so we are excited to hopefully get to do both."

Each qualifier got to select one of 13 sites to go for the qualification process. That is the next stage to determine if they will be entered into the 123rd U.S. Open in Los Angeles.